We are so thrilled that Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy won the Oscar Prize for her short documentary on “Honor Killings” in Pakistan even though her adversary, a conservative politician Maulana Fazlur Rehman views the law as a “humiliation of husbands.” Even the New York Times sat up and took notice (As did lots of other media outlets around the world.)

Ms. Chinoy tackles the tough stuff in her culture, while Ms Hameed, the lawmaker believes it is vital for the new legislation to eliminate the pressure on women to forgive their families – a key point in this gut wrenching film where culture trumps real life.

Despite frequent glowing media stories about India shining, digitization and IT-enabled cities which are true and show progress in many ways, there still continues to be a ferocious underbelly which encompasses many women workers who have to earn a living to support their families. In Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest state, women who are desperate to earn an income, resort to participating in the informal sector, rolling out “Beedi (biri)”, or hand rolled cigarettes. They earn a bare bones daily income with earnings in the range of Rupees 100 – 130 per day which is approximately $2/day. These earnings are highly dependent on the quantum of work they can successfully procure. There are days when they cannot find work which exacerbates life considerably for them and their families.

Mumtaz, a beedi worker from Rae Bareilly aged 43, has worked in the Beedi industry, and she describes their current living pattern as “next to hell.” Every day, she rolls hundreds of little cigarettes known as ‘Beedi’. She is paid Rs. 50 per thousand beedis rolled which she accomplishes in two days. Yet, at the time of final payment to the workers, around 30% of their payment is deducted on account of non-conforming products. This story is true for all the workers in Rae Bareilly. The work is monotonous and pays barely enough for their basic necessities, but worst of all, it is hazardous to their own health and also to the health of those around them.

The research conducted by the Lucknow Mahila SEWA Trust, found that many of the beedi workers were suffering from chronic diseases – pertaining to their lungs, heart and cancer. Fatima, a beedi worker narrated her health ordeals. After 40 years of working in the beedi industry, she is now rewarded with complaints of chest pain and nausea. Due to the lack of funds, she and others cannot afford to support themselves medically. She prays that her daughters and granddaughters be lucky enough to find alternative means of livelihood. At this juncture, a lack of alternative work options forces marginalized women to continue being locked in to the beedi making industry. The lack of options forces women to work under these untenable conditions because they lack alternative options to support their income generation.

The reality is that Indian women who subsist at poverty level must earn a living and contribute to the general household income. While most Indian families are dedicated to supporting the education of their young sons, the girls are often neglected due to the lack of adequate financial resources – which is a gigantic set back for the girls who also need to be educated. Favoring sons over daughters for an education is the Indian norm which ultimately results in disadvantages for their daughters. Girls need as much education as the boys do – but this is not typically the norm in low income Indian families who need to prioritize family income.

The Lucknow Mahila SEWA Trust has focused on economically enabling women to stand on their own two feet. This immediately produces a marvelous result: the women who now are trained in acquiring marketable skills through their apprenticeship in SEWA get reasonably well paying jobs. The immediate impact is evident as mothers jump to enroll their daughters in school. This is critically important because in traditional societies, typically fathers are only interested to support the education of their sons who they believe will be the breadwinners. Over time, this attitudinal favoritism of the boy child will fade – as mothers work to acquire skill sets and jobs, recognizing the value of education for their daughters as well. Working mothers know in their bones that their daughters need both an education and an income. They also know in their gut that investing in education is the cornerstone of their daughter’s future earnings and happiness.

The trainings conducted for marginalized women to become wage earners at a decent level will impart key skill sets for women who earn a living. With women in the work force, family income can easily double, adding greater financial security for the family unit. Women in the work force are viewed as an asset – and not a liability – adding economic security for the family’s well being. Women who earn a living are very willing to support their daughters’ education. Ultimately, this leads to a more balanced society of men and women who can navigate more strategic options for their children – both boys and girls. Education is a critical ingredient for the long term success of children on the personal front but also in terms of their future opportunities for education and job options. Equal opportunities to education, while changing their perspectives on other socio-economic issues ranging from literacy to the environment – are the new gateways to their futures as citizens.

Invest in Muslim Women supports women’s practical trainings in embroidery, fashion design and manufacturing for women. The women gain marketable skill sets which leads to a more secure livelihood and the resources to educate their daughters. Our NGO, Invest in Muslim Women has been supporting these training’s since 2013 giving women a passport to a better life for themselves and resources to educate their daughters.

We are just the funders. The real credit for this goes to Farida Jalees, Secretary of the Lucknow Mahila Sewa Trust. Farida is the inspiration, the brain, the heart and the soul of this program. It is her dreams and her tenacity that takes unskilled women and turns them into skilled practitioners who can then make a reasonable living.

A key factor of income generation is that employed mothers support their daughters’ educations and maybe even their dreams down the road. Strong working mothers can be role models. They can inspire, support and make a quantum difference in the lives, dreams and achievements of their daughters at home, in the work place and in their communities.

Nawaz Sharif has served twice as Prime Minister of Pakistan. His previous record on corruption was – well, Pakistani, which is not too strong a recommendation.

And diminishing the role of the military and the super powerful Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, similar to our CIA, are tougher challenges for him this time around – his last term ended with a military coup. His record on curtailing the power of militant jihadist radicals has been inconsistent. History shows that Sharif originally supported the Taliban in Afghanistan to aid Pakistan and opposes drone strikes. He was also protected by the Pakistani Taliban who circumvented pre-election attacks on Sharif’s party, his candidates and political rallies – indicating a certain coziness here.

(The general wisdom is that he should not try and mitigate issues with the Afghan Taliban – especially with the recent debacle of setting up an office, consulate in Qatar for the Taliban – but rather leave that to the Afghans to resolve.)

But this time, Sharif seems to have a clear agenda with a commitment to democracy, the economy and an exit strategy for the military which ruled the country for 40 years. He also has clear cut challenges: eradicating radical Islamist terrorism, while creating peace and changing the economic dynamic with India. Many of our Pakistani friends envision this as a “reverse partition” aiming for an eventual South Asian Economic Union and a boon for the Indo-Pak-Bangladeshi economies. But if Sharif is going to play it differently this time, he’s going to need the help of strong Pakistani women – I’m giving the microphone to two of them now.

An Exciting New Vision of Indo-Pak Rapprochement

Sherry Rehman, who until recently was Pakistan’s envoy to the US, excites me with her refreshing perspective on Indo-Pak politics. She envisions a dynamic game plan for Indo-Pak convergence and recently gave a talk in New Delhi on “Regional Peace and the Strategic Imagination.” She outlined a revitalized vision for rapprochement between India and Pakistan who really are two peas in a pod – in heart, mind and soul. “Rapprochement” is Ms Rehman’s mantra: what others view as a blockage, such as, the Line of Control in Kashmir, she views as “a spur to dialogue.” She’s bold and asks: “The question is, are we going to be prisoners or leaders of our destiny?” And she opines: “Countries that do business with each other don’t relish going to war with each other.” So true. She speaks to India and Pakistan turning to each other and reaping a huge peace dividend and says boldly: “Strategic empathy is the need of the hour from India, not policy drift…. Because otherwise the enemies of peace score a victory.”

“One of the most stunning facts about Malala is her passion for non- violence because she said she has no revenge for the man who shot her and would not shoot the Talib who tried to assassinate her even is she had a gun in hand. This is the philosophy of nonviolence that I have learned from Gandhi, Bacha Khan and Mother Teresa.” Stay tuned to this young woman

Nick Kristoff astutely reminds us that “Change can come not only from a bomb but also from a girl with a school book studying under a tree or in a mosque.” And she can make paradigm shifts in her village, her slum, her city. “She will have fewer children, be more likely to hold a job and exercise more influence; her brothers and her children will be less likely to join the Taliban”…. And more likely to change the cultural and social norms, contributing to peace.

So can Nawaz Sharif, a traditional patriarchal, male Punjabi politician recognize the insights of strong Pakistani women like Sherry Rehman and Malala? Can he embrace non-violence, women’s education and a new relationship with India?

A lot rides on the answer.

Khadijah’s daughters is a blog by Shahnaz Chinoy Taplin, board president of Invest in Muslim Women, a non-profit project of the Global Fund for Women. Invest in Muslim Women focuses on the economic empowerment of Muslim women, justice and peace. The blog is inspired by Khadijah, Prophet Muhammad’s first wife and the quintessential role model for Muslim women. She was the first convert to Islam, the first Muslim woman entrepreneur, a globalist and a feminist.

]]>http://investinmuslimwomen.org/?feed=rss2&p=13070Brave Afghan Women on the Front Lines of Changehttp://investinmuslimwomen.org/?p=1277
http://investinmuslimwomen.org/?p=1277#respondTue, 04 Jun 2013 10:58:51 +0000http://investinmuslimwomen.org/?p=1277“We try to save the law, if we lose; we lost 11 years of hard work.”

Date: June 04, 2013

Last week the Afghan parliament — with the support of 60 votes from women members– voted down President Hamid Karzai’s 2009 presidential decree on the Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW). Invest in Muslim Women’s NGO partner in Kabul,

Jamila Afghani, Executive Director of Noor Educational and Capacity Development Organization (NECDO), parsed this staggering fact for me: “The Afghani women parliamentarians represent different political parties and they do not believe in women’s rights. They are beholden to male legislators and follow their mandates.”

Fawzia Kofi, an activist and champion of women’s rights fears worse reversals of women’s rights from legislators aligned with hard core religious parties in the future with Karzai’s decrees being law. A winning vote would have protected women from future abuses.

TOLO News Parliamentarians who opposed the law argued that 6 of its articles were “against Islamic values.”These articles include banning the “BAAD”, the traditional practice of exchanging girls and girls and women to settle disputes between families, making domestic violence punishable up to three years in prison, protecting rape victims from prosecution for adultery or fornication, limiting the number of wives a man can have to two, and establishing shelters for battered women.

The vote against EVAW highlights the key issues on the ground in Afghanistan: men’s rights trump women’s rights; tradition clashes with modernity; tribalism and patriarchy are dominant forces in this feudal society. The unresolved question is who speaks for women and their rights to education, employment and empowerment in the 21st century?

The defeat of the EVAW bill flags how culture trumps faith in many Islamic countries including Afghanistan. I wonder what it is that deters Muslims from taking the right path? The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) courageously railed against contemporary mores in 7th century Arabia, such as, female feticide and the denial of inheritance rights to women? And why is it that Muslim men thwart the models bestowed by the true feminist founders of Islam: Khadijah, Prophet Muhammad’s first wife and the entrepreneur who funded the first Muslim community in Medina, Aisha, the jurist and Fatima, the Prophet’s daughter and quintessential care-taker? What prevents Muslim men and women from following the Islamic tradition prevalent in Prophet Muhammad’s life time when women participated in the shura council and voted on key political issues alongside their male brethren?

The impact of this vote is real – I heard a heart wrenching story from an enlightened Afghan imam about a debauched Afghan father trading his 3 year old daughter to settle his gambling debts. It is these kinds of barbaric practices and customs that Karzai’s decree on the elimination of violence against women – if passed as a law by parliament – would have potentially eliminated. The list of offensive and even misogynistic practices as they pertain to women is long, unimaginable and outrageous. It ranges from child marriage and forced marriage, to reprehensible levels of domestic violence against women – conducted and condoned in the name of Islam – even though they violate both the Quran and the Prophet’s example and teaching.

Even if the decree had remained in effect, the threat would not be over. Heather Barr, a researcher for Human Rights Watch cautions: “There’s a real risk this has opened a Pandora’s Box, that this may have galvanized opposition to this decree by people who in principle oppose greater rights for women.”

The big questions are what comes next in Afghanistan after the US exits — the Taliban or a civilized alternative? Can one dream of a moderate, human rights based framework for Afghanistan to move forward into the twenty first century. Can women expect security – as they step forward to become key stakeholders in their society?

From Kabul, Jamila writes with a heavy heart: “We are on the front lines with our allies at the Karamah Network of Advocacy & Human Rights. We are struggling to support the law on prohibiting violence against women from an Islamic perspective.“We try our best to save this law and if we lose, we will lose the achievement of the past 11 years”

Afghanistan is not the only South Asian country wrestling with violence against women. (And let’s not forget our own challenges, even at places like the Naval Academy.) India has been going through a wrenching national dialogue all this year (LINK TO EARLIER INDIA BLOG) And a recent FRONT LINE program on PBS starkly described the challenges facing rape victims in Pakistan. At the end of that program, the lawyer who represented the 13 year old rape victim, only to lose in court, argues that whatever the surface looks like, real progress is inevitable. He says that women are not going to stop speaking out and that as they do, change will, and must, come – because women will secure it.

Afghanistan is probably no different. Azad Mohammadi, a development specialist with International Relief and Development (IRD) who has worked in Afghanistan for several years takes a long range view and says: “Social issues – despite the challenges – will not revert to ground zero. For the last 11 years, progressives have been fostering, organizing and creating institutions to advance social issues and Afghani women will not give up.”

Khadijah’s daughters is a blog by Shahnaz Chinoy Taplin, board president of Invest in Muslim Women, a non-profit project of the Global Fund for Women. Invest in Muslim Women focuses on the economic empowerment of Muslim women, justice and peace. The blog is inspired by Khadijah, Prophet Muhammad’s first wife and the quintessential role model for Muslim women. She was the first convert to Islam, the first Muslim woman entrepreneur, a globalist and a feminist.

]]>http://investinmuslimwomen.org/?feed=rss2&p=12770Pakistan Goes to the Polls: The Promise and Potentialhttp://investinmuslimwomen.org/?p=1331
http://investinmuslimwomen.org/?p=1331#respondWed, 08 May 2013 07:30:58 +0000http://investinmuslimwomen.org/?p=1331Date: May 8, 2013

Pakistan goes to the polls on May 11, 2013. The promise and the potential of a fresh beginning — for the moment — feels heady. The Afghan war has taken its toll on Pakistan. Can the country reinvent itself with a clear eye on the challenges and opportunities it faces in South Asia — at the age of 65 in its new political incarnation — even as it is flanked by Afghanistan and India?

Growing up in India, Pakistan seemed like the bright successful shiny country bordering a rather poor India. It seemed that success for Pakistan was just around the corner, even as India struggled with its many millions of impoverished masses. But history has turned out differently — and now Pakistan is the struggling member of the family.

Chess Board of Politics: Pakistan has straddled between democracy and dictatorship since its inception in 1948. It now has multiple, often feudal based, political parties associated with a handful of political leaders who have played musical chairs for over 50 years. The names and faces of the politicians are sparse, recurring — alternating dictators and democrats. Gallup poll predicts 41 percent and The Economist‘s most recent survey predicts that 59 percent of the vote will go to Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N). The article also commends Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif for “getting things done.” But politics is not easy business anywhere and certainly not in Pakistan.

Modernity vs. Antiquity: These polar opposites define the struggle for the soul of Pakistan. Modernity entrains education, employment and empowerment for women. Antiquity clings onto age old taboos pertaining to women’s roles, segregation, and subservience — all of which cumulatively and negatively impact the place, the position and the power of women in Pakistani society. Reconfiguring the Muslim women’s role in the spirit and teaching of Islam, where “Paradise rests beneath the feet of your mother” could catalyze a paradigm shift in Pakistani society.

Pakistan has a population of 180 million, with 37 million women and 48 million men registered to vote. But in reality, Farzana Bari, human rights activist and university professor at the Quaid-i-Azam University “estimates that at least 11 million eligible women will not be able to vote simply because authorities have not granted them national identity cards.” This is a travesty. In India, the voting gap between Muslim men and women in Kashmir is 5 percent. But In Pakistan, the voting gap is expected to be 25 percent.

Conservative Pakistani women conform to a traditional code of conduct, wearing the burqa or hijab, being accompanied by a male guardian in public at all times, and mostly staying within the confines of the home. The election commission tried to overcome these social/cultural taboos by passing legislation in parliament requiring at least 10 percent of the women’s vote for candidates running for office, but the measure failed.

Some mullahs deny Pakistani women the right to vote on the grounds that women’s voting is un-Islamic. Where did these Mullahs get these ideas, when women participated in the council that chose Abu Bakr, the first successor, to Prophet Mohammad in eighth century Arabia?

The challenges of modernity versus antiquity for women are uniquely challenging for women curtailed by social taboos and Taliban imposed edicts in the North West frontier region. The Talibans’s code of conduct, for example, prohibits a married woman from voting for a male elected representative — but also precludes women candidates running for political office.

In the tough neighborhoods of the North West frontier’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa districts, the ban on women voting in the election will be hard to lift. It is in these areas where old customs don’t yield easily to new norms, new economies and equal rights for men and women — even in today’s democratic Pakistan.

Marriage and divorce in tribal Pashtun cultures are loaded issues — even in local elections. This was clear in Battagram. An election was declared null because women were threatened with divorce if they voted. In the rerun, the threat of divorce was lifted and women participated successfully.

Badama Begum, a 33-year-old school teacher who worked the 2008 elections says not a single woman came to vote in Maardan in the North West Frontier Province – even though the government provided women election aids. Despite regressive restrictions, I am in awe of the tenacity of Muslim women.

Look at Khalida Bibi, a 39-year-old housewife from Dargai in the North West. She was eager to participate in the 2002 and 2008 elections – until she ran up against local opposition which stopped her. But make no mistake, Khalida Bibi, a determined Muslim women, shows her metal when she says “I hope I will succeed this time because the election commission does not want to ban women from voting.”

But it does look like the national election will be held — and perhaps fairly. For the first time in Pakistan’s 65-year history, an elected government will hand over power to another elected successor. The newly elected leaders will need to confront three critical challenges: First, to rescue Pakistan — often viewed as a “failed state” – from a collapsing economy and a challenging security situation. Second, to make peace with India across the border, and deal head on with the dangerously unresolved “Kashmir” issue. If these flash points are eliminated, the Indo-Pak cross border bridge building will start — laying the foundation for Indo-Pak economic cooperation, growth and prosperity between these two vital countries which together constitute 20 percent or 1/5 of the the world’s population.

Finally, to create a positive paradigm shift in Pakistan, a critical ingredient is to educate, employ and empower Pakistani women — give them a shot, give them the opportunities and see them flourish. The women can strengthen the social fabric, the economy and the state of the nation with their vital contributions.

Khadijah’s daughters is a blog by Shahnaz Chinoy Taplin, board president of Invest in Muslim Women, a non-profit project of the Global Fund for Women. Invest in Muslim Women focuses on the economic empowerment of Muslim women, justice and peace. The blog is inspired by Khadijah, Prophet Muhammad’s first wife and the quintessential role model for Muslim women. She was the first convert to Islam, the first Muslim woman entrepreneur, a globalist and a feminist.

A revolution averted: as we prepared to fly to Pakistan, we realized that the country was being held hostage by a charismatic Canada based cleric, Dr. Tahirul Qadri, chief of Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran. He held a march with 40-50,000 of his supporters in Islamabad with the singular objective of overthrowing the current government – ostensibly to be replaced by a clean and uncorrupt government – which could potentially disrupting democracy in the country.

Mr Qadri aimed to dislodge President Asif Zardari’s government – renowned for its corruptness – and to replace it with a new administration led by technocrats. For some Pakistanis, Dr. Qadri’s march in Islamabad conjured up fears of a military take over once again while many questions about Mr Qadri, his supporters and funders are left unanswered. The common wisdom is that Pakistani expats in Canada corroborated with him, but the reason for this is not clear. Interestingly, Mr Qadri is a preacher – but decisively not a fundamentalist. In fact, he is much like the aging activist Anna Hazare in India, who last year maintained a long standing fight against corruption and for clean government through months of protests and a sustained fast, despite his ripe age.

Mr. Qadri ‘s five day campaign which he took to the streets enabled him to score modest gains — a date set for the next election and a screening criteria for candidates – to stem corruption. Credit for the resolution goes to the Pakistani leaders who salvaged the precarious situation skillfully. While I am not a fan of Zardari’s, kudos to him and his team for creating “a cooling down” period which enabled negotiators on both sides to save face. Mr. Qadri stepping back was literally and metaphorically helped by unseasonal rains which provided him with an opportunity to call off the protest, rescuing his street supporters from winter weather exacerbated by the lack of water, food and sanitary facilities.

Mr. Qadri’s rally focused on key issues for Pakistanis at a historic moment as the first civilian led government (not a military dictatorship) will now yield to another democratic government. This is a giant step forward for Pakistan. Adnan Rehmat in his article, “Old Tricks, New Pakistan’ captures the political mood and spirit in the country and he writes “a new Pakistan is shaping up” with decidedly different characteristics. This includes a greater demand for democracy, inclusivity, better governance, support for electoral politics, a guarantee of fundamental rights by the state with pressure for party reforms. He highlights the new political parties like Imran Khan’s and Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran (Mr. Qadri’s Party), stepping up to assert a new agenda focused on governance, basic services and a solid bill of rights for citizens.

Bottom line: a violent disruption of the election process was averted – peacefully, While the bazaars in Karachi were shut down for a day to protest yet another tragic assassination there, we zipped thru a traffic free ride into the city – thanks to hourly updates on safety issues for tourists which our friends at Hum TV in Karachi kindly provided.

There is no question that this was a big step for Pakistan in the right direction: These negotiations reflected a sign of maturity for Pakistan’s president and his team. There is more here that bodes well: People we spoke with took pride in how the country’s leadership handled these delicate negotiations, salvaging a potentially fractious situation. The intelligencia, media and American diplomats were almost buoyant, saying “this could be a turning point for Pakistan.” They were optimistic about the outcome and the mature handling of a crisis by politicians who in the past have often been politically clumsy. This time around, the president’s men handled the challenging situation brilliantly – earning a well deserved Bravo for Pakistan !

Pakistanis are a lovely people and equally well known for their conspiracy theories. On the other side of the divide, many Pakistanis saw the troubling influence of their powerful armed forces behind him.

Some say that Nawaz Sharif, leader of the opposition party supported President Zardari because he believed that Mr. Qadri was promoting a “conspiracy against democracy”, paving the way for an army coup. Interestingly, a professional Pakistani woman in the seat next to me on the flight to Islamabad said she had heard that this whole situation was rigged by the President himself to blow off the possibility of a military take over! This rumor was also corroborated by our politically connected hosts in Lahore.

While Pakistan is often dismissed as a “failed state,” Mr Qadri clearly tapped into a deep and smoldering discontent on the streets. Pakistan’s politicians are often corrupt and contemptuous of their constituents. Mr Qadri capitalized on the political grievances and combined them with other deep seated issues, including terrorism, unemployment and energy shortages. “Clean” politics is a dream in Pakistan attributed to “the boiling rage experienced by the common man.” Imran Khan, cricketer-turned-politician, is running on a platform denouncing corruption while embracing clean politics, is a star attraction, drawing big crowds to his rallies.

The new mantra for the progress and stability of countries in South Asia is good governance, clean politics and inclusivity with a special focus on economically empowering women – for the well being of our countries on multiple levels.

The march from Lahore to Islamabad was a historic first in many ways: it was positive, peaceful and focused on intrinsic issues of clean governance and national interests. Further and importantly, the march included educated women and girls, men and boys who are key stakeholders. A historic step for Pakistan – reinvigorating democracy and a vote for hope for the men and women on the street.

Shahnaz Chinoy Taplin’s blog is inspired by Khadijah, Prophet Muhammad’s first wife. Khadijah is the quintessential role model for Muslim women. She was the first convert to Islam, the first Muslim woman entrepreneur, a globalist and a feminist.

Visiting urbanized Shahbath Moredpur, a hamlet just behind the spanking New Delhi airport and Chainsa in rural Haryana state – three striking similarities emerged. First, both villages have long histories of Hindu-Muslim amity over 150 years: harmonious relationships dominate these religiously mixed communities, and their Muslims did not flee to Pakistan in 1947 during Partition. Second, in both villages, a local philanthropist – an older Muslim woman in Shabath Moredpur and a Muslim man and political /community leader in Chainsa – gifted land to start a community center for their respective villages. And third, in both villages, Muslim girls and women resoundingly voiced their passion for learning and earning!

In Shahbath Moredpur, a village elder donated her home for the community center some years ago. When we visited it, the center was in action with a library, a computer design lab where girls created designs to be embroidered on cloth and even a spa/salon training center where women graduated with certificates, enhancing their employment opportunities. This was a fully functioning community center with kids of all ages through to young adults and mothers who could take advantage of occupational training to enhance family income. It was an up beat; clean, environmentally aware hub where learning and earning seemed like real outcomes for young women– being trained with different skill sets and poised to augment their family income.

(Photos from READ projects)

In Chhainsa, a typical village of Mewat District in Haryana, the new community center was being built. We met with a group of villagers who had assembled with community leaders to explain to READ global, a non-profit, their visions, hopes and plans for occupational trainings to be provided. With a passionate fervor, energy and clarity, the girls and women articulated their refrain for education and employment. These messages were shared across a wide spectrum of village girls and women. All were crystal clear about their need for education and livelihood skill sets in making rugs, bedspreads – and putting their crafts and embroidery skills to use and enhance family earnings. (* Read village)

Society is not meeting its obligations to these women and girls – in Chainsa the school is three hours away – an almost insuperable barrier for girls in particular. Philanthropy is only the start, but with projects like these it is quite a start. Both community centers are affiliated with READ global.

Our third stop was an urban village in Agra – after a glorious sunrise visit to the magnificent Taj Mahal- where the America India Foundation (AIF) Board met with rickshaw drivers who have received AIF guaranteed bank loans, enabling them to purchase their rickshaws, rather than renting them – increasing their earnings by 50% and giving them an asset against which they can borrow. These rickshaw loans are on the name of both husband and wife – part of the reason, AIF believes, that so far, out of thousands of loans there is not a single default – and we even witnessed one ceremony where the loan was paid off and the rickshaw is now owned, free and clear by the couple. In this village, once again the women were engaged in minor activities but dreamed of sensible and substantial ventures to support their large families, with many of them having 6-9 children. Where are those wonderful family planning clinics, I wondered? These women were both eager and desperate to work at more profitable ventures rather than selling vegetables from push carts, earning a paltry $8-10/day – hardly enough to support the many mouths they had to feed.

(Photo’s from AIF projects)

The women I met were starkly honest: they needed to earn more to feed their many kids even as lived huts with minimal access to clean water, sanitation, food and health care. Income generation is their passport to a better life. When I asked one woman, how much capital investment she needed, without a blink she said: “One lakh rupees ($ 2,000)” – certainly no lack of ambition or clarity here! One thing was eminently obvious: the women did not lack ambition – rather they lacked training, employment opportunities and capital investments.

“Learn and Earn” – as they explained to me in all three projects – is the perfect mantra for women including Muslim women and girls who dream of being educated, employed and empowered. Girls were more focused on classroom learning – while the women were ready to go out and earn a living. But even older and previously illiterate women had remarkable educational aspirations – one older woman in Shahpur was learning to read her native Hindi, but wanted to go beyond it and learn Arabic, so she could read her sacred text, the Quran, in its original language. Arabic, I’ve heard, is a very tough language – and to learn it at the age of 40 after a lifetime of reading no language, is really “shooting for the moon.”

All three of these projects, and the enthusiasm for them within the communities, demonstrate a promising pathway upwards through education, followed by skill based trainings leading to employment and entrepreneurship. This is what Muslim girls and women — at the bottom of the totem pole – are clamoring for. And to me that is the single most encouraging indicator for the future success of Muslim girls and women as they become integrated and respected members of their families and communities.

*These village community centers are affiliated with READ global which is committed to Inspiring Rural Prosperity. They build community centers in rural villages which support reading, learning, using computers to design their embroidery projects – with a bottom line focus on social and economic transformation.

Shahnaz Chinoy Taplin’s blog is inspired by Khadijah, Prophet Muhammad’s first wife. Khadijah is the quintessential role model for Muslim women. She was the first convert to Islam, the first Muslim woman entrepreneur, a globalist and a feminist.

]]>http://investinmuslimwomen.org/?feed=rss2&p=10390Iqra or read is the very first word in the Quranhttp://investinmuslimwomen.org/?p=741
http://investinmuslimwomen.org/?p=741#respondWed, 16 Jan 2013 12:34:03 +0000http://investinmuslimwomen.org/?p=741

Date: Oct 2012

Let’s all pay tribute to Malala Yousafzai.

Given that the Quran starts with the word “read,” I am stunned to witness the Taliban in Pakistan, who consider themselves good Muslims, open fire on Malala Yousafzai, a 14-year-old girl in Mingora, Swat. As she rode her school bus they shot her with bullets, leaving her in critical condition. Malala is not an ordinary Pakistani girl, she is a veritable star. The extraordinary daughter of her father, a school teacher, she dreamed of being educated, becoming a doctor, and was also the 2011 winner of Pakistan’s first National Youth Peace Prize.

Malala lives in Swat, a region subjected to vicious subjugation by both the Taliban and the Pakistani army — and a region where the lack of education for women has enabled extremist preachers to influence the uneducated and particularly the girls. It’s also a part of a region where Invest in Muslim Women’s Pakistani partners have managed to keep peace in 27 of 30 districts — but, tragically, not all of them, and not Mingora.

If reading has a priority placement in the Quran, why is it that the Taliban targeted Malala for her crusading passion for education? Could it be because the Taliban reject the core tenets of Islam and consider education to be “obscene” and a “symbol of Western culture?”

In true Islam, women have rights to education, to work, to divorce with a financial settlement, to own property, to marry and remarry. As a young teen, Malala knew her Islamic rights when she said in a CNN interview: “I have the right to education. I have the right to play. I have the right to sing. I have the right to talk. I have the right to go to market. I have the right to speak up.”

Malala took inspiration from her father’s life; she watched him run a school for girls. She does not mince her words. She urged her cohorts to stand up to the Taliban because she believes that on judgement day we will all be asked why we stood by silently when people were being blown up. Malala is bold and brave — unequivocally supported by her father — despite her defying Taliban threats against her.

The Taliban attack on Malala has been so outrageous, so un-Islamic that even Jamaat ud Dawa, the charity arm of the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taliban denounced the act in no uncertain terms: “Shameful, Despicable, Barbaric attempt” was posted on the group’s official Twitter feed, according to an editorial in the New York Times, and “Curse b upon assassins and perpetrators.

“Nicholas Kristoff nails the intrinsic issues at stake in the battle between Islamist extremists and the rest of society when he quotes a 19-year-old female student at Peshawar University who says: “This is not just Malala’s war. It is a war between two ideologies, between the light of education and the darkness.”

Malala’s priorities are clear when she writes to a New York Timesreporter: “I want an access to the world of knowledge.”

Our prayers are with Malala.

Personally, I see this battle as being about women’s minds, women’s education, women’s progress and women’s power. Women are on one side, the Taliban is on the other. I vote with the women — unequivocally.”

Shahnaz Chinoy Taplin’s blog is inspired by Khadijah, Prophet Muhammad’s first wife. Khadijah is the quintessential role model for Muslim women. She was the first convert to Islam, the first Muslim woman entrepreneur, a globalist and a feminist.

]]>http://investinmuslimwomen.org/?feed=rss2&p=7410The Ecstasy and Agony of India — From the Political to the Tribalhttp://investinmuslimwomen.org/?p=692
http://investinmuslimwomen.org/?p=692#respondTue, 15 Jan 2013 12:35:07 +0000http://investinmuslimwomen.org/?p=692

Date: Feb 2012

Currently checking out interesting NGOs empowering Muslim women in my home country. The world’s largest democracy remains a paradox. Take Lucknow, the capital of the largest state in the world, Uttar Pradesh, teaming with 200 million people. This state is part of the northern Indian swathe derisively referred to as the cowbelt, because of its economic backwardness. Given its population, Uttar Pradesh could be the fifth largest country in the world, but in India it is known for its social indicators — low rates of literacy and high rates of maternal and infant mortality.

Lucknow still boasts spectacular 15th century monuments, the legacy of aristocratic “Nawabs” — alongside scores of statues of its current and first-ever lower caste Chief Minister, the formidable Mayawati.

Mayawati, and her statutes, sport a bob haircut and a signature Gucci bag on her arm, modeled on Maggie Thatcher. Hundreds of acres in downtown Lucknow are dedicated to Mayawati’s credo: “Political leaders from the outcastes can be just as grandiose as those from the traditional elite.” The significance of those sculptured totems, raised at a cost of billions have not been lost on the poor voters, including the Dalits (formerly untouchables) who powered Mayawati’s victory run in the last state election. For them, Mayawati stands tall as a political leader of India’s most populous state who has empowered them politically as much as she has empowered herself. But at the same time her efforts to recreate Moghul scale public spaces in the 21st century may bring her down.

What I love about Indian politics is that “Aam Admi,” the common man/woman, has a finger firmly placed on the political realities and should never be underestimated. Our taxi driver who drove us into town from the airport, all the while providing us with a pertinent update including a poignant sound bite on Mayawati: “How could she build these wasteful monuments when the people need healthcare, education and sanitation? These monuments do not benefit the common man in any way.” This was a refrain we heard multiple times during our stay in this beautiful, cultured city, once host to poets, musicians and artisans, and still celebrated for its exquisite cuisine.

Elections are currently under way in a handful of states in India this year, including Uttar Pradesh. Despite the country’s low levels of education and widespread poverty, the voter turnout has been gratifyingly high — up to 78 percent. While voters are sometimes paid to exercise their franchise (anything from a bottle of hooch to a computer, we are reliably informed), voting is higher among those belonging to the low- income groups rather than the Indian elites.

Politics cannot be severed from the mind-blowing personal journey in Lucknow: the Hindu driver who accompanied us to visit Muslim women’s projects and the Shia Nawabi monuments was a philosopher who understood the core of Islam. He lives in love and harmony with his Muslim neighbors. I wonder, even as he is tells me that he is virtually raising his Muslim neighbor’s daughter who dines with his family most nights as if she is his own, how this happens, and he offers an explanation: “First, we respect our common humanity with our neighbors and then we follow our faiths.”

As my husband and I stroll along the banks of the Gomti river, enjoying the wind blown, kaleidoscopic saris, freshly embroidered, starched and washed by the dhobis or washer men, then suspended to dry, we meet, chat and fall in love with a soulful dhobi. On his bare knees on the rocky river bank, washing and starching the clothes at least nine times, he gives generously of his time. I probe about politics, his family life, and communalism. “There is no difference between Hindus and Muslims. I have supported the Bharatiya Janata Party, (a right wing party focused on economics which sometimes stirs the pot on communalism). I have donated (through his labor union), campaigned and voted for the former Prime Minister Vajpayee, who ran for office from this district but I will not support the corrupt Mayawati, (current chief minister) because she has squandered the common man’s public resources.” By the standard of educated folks, our dhobi might be viewed as uneducated but he is wise. He gets the issues, he has a moral rudder. He too prides himself in living peacefully with his Hindu neighbors. He comes by his principles honestly and from his tribe — his ancestors — and believes and follows in their footsteps, retracing their commitments and actions of living in peace with fellows, whether Hindu dhobis or Muslim. When I offered the dhobi a small tip for hijacking him from his work, he refused the tip and touched my heart when he said, “I spoke to you from my heart. I can’t take money from you,” as he ekes out a meager living for his family on the banks of the Gomti. Imagine that!

But if Aam Admi thrills, the political leadership chills. The political paradoxes of India invade even the literary circuit. Two noted authors — the famous or infamous (depending on your point of view) Salman Rushdie, author of “The Satanic Verses,” was recently told by government that it could not guarantee his protection if he chose to attend the literary festival in Jaipur, India in January. Similarly, Taslima Nasrin, author of “Shame”had her book launch cancelled at the Calcutta book fair, because the political parties were stirring up potential violence. Many Indians viewed these bans as an attempt by the Congress-ruled government both at the Centre and in Rajasthan to pander to fundamentalist sentiments within the Muslim community — a key vote block in current elections which are underway.

Where my taxi driver and dhobi would have peace, their leaders see advantage in strife – where and when does India reach the tipping point and choose its path?

Landing in Delhi, I was flying high because I had just read that the Indian parliament voted for a bill (in the Rajya Sabha) reserving 33% of seats for women in parliament – a crescendo moment for India, women and activists. Unlike the health care debate in Congress, both sides of the aisle – the right wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the left wing Communist Party of India (CPI) members – submerged their differences and supported the bill for the “greater good.”

Sonia Gandhi, President of the Congress Party and Italian-born wife of the late Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, championed this legislation, following in the footsteps of her mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi, who abolished the Privy Purse for Indian royalty and Rajiv Gandhi, who allocated 33% seats for women on village councils through Panchayati raj.

Tehelka, Mother Jones of India, hosts lunch for Muslim Women’s Fund

On my first day in Delhi, I met with 12 exciting Muslim women opinion leaders at a lunch hosted by Tehelka, a public interest website, weekly magazine and publishing company (Read Tehelka’s story here). The group included journalists and NGO leaders, government leaders, advertising gurus, and staunch Indian secularists who represented human rights and women’s rights NGOs in both rural and urban India. There were clear delineations between our Saudi and Indian sisters photograph of Delhi meeting

In a nutshell, secularism, democracy and heterogeneity are three key defining characteristics of India and they were evident in full splendor at our lunch and differentiated Indian sisters from our Saudi sisters whom I had reported on in my last e-newsletter.

Discussion Focused on India’s Distinctive Issues

Dr. Safia Mehdi of the Muslim Women’s Forum, an academic at the Jamiya Milya Ismailya University, asserts that education and economic empowerment of women are our issues. We would like to work with our sister at the Muslim Women’s Fund on these issues. I concur: we are in synch. Video of Dr. Safia Mehdi

Shabnam Hashmi represented Unhud, a well-respected Indian NGO which runs women’s empowerment centers in Haryana, Kashmir and Gujarat. They work with the Mewati Muslims in 400 villages of Haryana and Rajasathan and also work in 30 Kashmiri villages. Shabnam was crystal clear when she said: Our work is being done in the framework of the Indian constitution. I am disturbed by you looking at Muslim women only through the Shariah lens. That falls into the trap of the fundamentalists. 90% of Muslims are Video of Shabnam Hashminot fundamentalist so why work through the mosque?

In Kashmir’s conflict zones, women face a special set of challenges and Tanvir of Unhud explains: There are lots of bans. 50% of the women are widows in a village and in one particular village there are 300 widows. Unhud does political and social education and now has a crafts center, which gives women a way to go out of the house. Kashmiri women always had a place in society and it is one place in India where women can attend the mosque.

Laila Tyabji is a trailblazer whom I’ve long admired and wanted to meet. For 30 years, Laila has advocated for and advanced Indian craftswomen. Through her organization, Dastkar, she has enabled rural craftswomen to find markets, develop a customer base and earn a sustainable living. Laila offered her version of the secularist, anti-mosque perspective: We work with the crafts. There is no gender bias and no community bias. The strength of crafts people is that they are multi-cultural and that can serve as a catalyst for development. In Kutch she said, People build on each others’ strengths but now there are new political parties coming in and changing the balance….

Shazia is a young, hip TV journalist who worked with Star News and is the daughter of the publisher of an Urdu newspaper. She has watched, what she calls, the communalization of Urdu (the language of Indian Muslims). She tracks caste, class and gender issues and specifically high-profile legal cases and infamous fatwas (legal but non-binding opinions) in the Muslim community. In the famous Imrana affair, the jurist demanded that the father-in-law, who had claimed his daughter-in-law while his son was at war, had first rights to her even when his son returned from war. The fatwas are issued in the name of Islam. But are they Islamic?

Yasmeen Abrar, the government of India’s Director of the National Commission for Women, also attended the lunch. She highlighted the Indian government’s allocation of Rupees 400 crores ($95 million) over five years for the advancement of Indian women. The funds were being grantedVideo of Yasmeen Abrar and her daughter exclusively to Indian NGOs for implementation. Mrs. Abrar urged the Muslim Women’s Fund to apply for a grant, which we will follow up on. (Mrs. Abrar’s daughter translates for her in mother in English in the video.)

Dr. Sabiha Hussain is an academic and researcher at Jamiya Milya Ismailya University in Dehli. She is the author of two books, The Changing Half: A Case Study of the Indian Muslim Woman and Exposing the Myths of Muslim Fertility. She shares the plight of 3-year-old girls and women, who rely on incense production in Gaya, Bihar: They eat one meal a day but the second meal comes from rolling a kilo of incense sticks. It takes 6-8 hours a day and earns them Rs. 9 (20 cents). Incense production is a toxic business and by the time the girls reach puberty, they encounter respiratory problems; and their health and education are arrested. Producing incense is the last and least preferred means of employment, explains Sabiha. She constantly hears the refrain which validates our Fund’s focus on creating employment: We want a means of livelihood, sewing machines for our daughters, contracts for school uniforms and knitting machines.

Meeting with Mrs. Ansari, wife of India’s Vice President

One of the highlights of Dehli was the privilege of having a quiet, intimate lunch with Mrs. Salma Ansari, wife of the Vice President of India. She lives in one of Luyten’s fabulous bungalows (more like a mansion) with spacious grounds, gardens and dahlias a foot wide. She served a fusion lunch down to the palette-cleansing sorbet served in a period setting.

More importantly, Mrs. Ansari is an incredible Muslim woman, the wife of a diplomat who is now Vice President of India. Mrs. Ansari has lived in many Muslim countries and consistently started schools. Seeds were planted in her teenage years when she attended Aligarh University, one of India’s premier Muslim academic institutions in Lucknow. She told us about her student days when she would ride into the poorest Muslim slums on horseback since there were no roads for cars. She started three madrassas in Lucknow in the poorest of slums, including Al noor, which was inhabited by Rickshawallas and prostitutes. She shared her wisdom on schooling underprivileged children: Education has to be redefined. Don’t give the kids homework. Disregard the age of the child in class and please don’t fail the kids. Financial stipends to the family help to secure support for their child’s education.

While Mrs. Ansari struggled with raising funds for the schools, her teachers would say to her, “don’t worry, you don’t have to pay me for six months.” Today, the Indian government supports her three schools in Lucknow by providing ($7) monthly stipends to the children, free books, school bags, salaries for two teachers and up to Rs. 5 lakhs ($12,500) for each school.

Before we left, Mrs. Ansari indulged us with a lovely tour of the gardens and a visit to the mosque and mandir (temple) on the property, both of which she has had refurbished simply and embellished appropriately by village artisans. As we were saying our goodbyes, in a crowning moment, Mrs. Ansari said: Hinduism taught me my Islam. These five words captured the essence of Indian Islam. What a perfect statement from the Vice President’s wife, who was preparing to inaugurate the temple the next day.

Zooming out on the advice and wisdom of our Indian sisters, I was reminded by what Farah Pandith, President Obama’s emissary to Muslims worldwide, said about the President’s new lexicon: There is no such thing as the Muslim world, only Muslim communities. I would add that it is imperative for our Fund to look, listen and learn about local nuances as we support women’s education and economic empowerment through grassroots NGOs in Muslim communities globally.

Shahnaz Chinoy Taplin’s blog is inspired by Khadijah, Prophet Muhammad’s first wife. Khadijah is the quintessential role model for Muslim women. She was the first convert to Islam, the first Muslim woman entrepreneur, a globalist and a feminist